Home
by DamonsGurl95
Summary: Takes place after "Where Did I Go Right?" Please read that first for this to make sense.


**Home**

 _Takes place after my one-shot 'Where Did I Go Right?'_

 _Please read that first otherwise this story will not make much sense._

Ziva was bored out of her mind, it had been two days since Tony had bought her home. He had insisted that they not tell anyone that she was back until the weekend so that they would be free of work and be able to properly celebrate. That left Ziva to sit in Tony's apartment all day waiting for him to return from work. She couldn't use his computer because he took it to work, there was minimal food in the fridge which meant she couldn't practice her cooking skills, she couldn't read her books because she didn't have any, she had gotten rid of all of her possessions except for clothes when she left. All that Ziva could do was work through Tony's movie collection and sleep. Tony had food delivered to her for lunch every day so that she wouldn't have to leave the apartment.

It was finally Friday and Ziva was starting to get nervous as she looked at the clock every few minutes. The further that time ticked on the more nervous Ziva got. It had been months since she had seen anyone from NCIS and now tonight she was going to be thrown amongst them. Ziva knew that everyone, especially Abby, would have questions for her about where she was, why she left and what she was doing. Now was her chance to figure out her answers before they arrived at 7.

Tony was sitting in the bullpen with Gibbs and McGee finishing up paperwork. He had invited everyone to his place for dinner tonight to surprise them with Ziva. It was getting harder to stop himself from smiling and talking about her as the day wore on.

Finally the clock ticked over to 6:30 and they were able to leave.

Tony couldn't have moved any faster as he grabbed his things and ran for the lift shouting over his shoulder that he would see everyone at his place at 7.

When he got home Tony was practically jumping on the spot, clearly he was excited.

Ziva smiled at him as he raced over to the couch and embraced her.

"It's so good to see you," Tony said smiling like a kid at Christmas.

Ziva laughed, "it's good to see you too. I have to say I'm glad that everyone will finally get to see me and I can come out of hiding tonight."

Tony grinned, "I nearly spilled the beans multiple times today but then I thought that you would probably kill me considering I've made you stay cooped up here for the last few days alone."

"I definitely would have," Ziva laughed.

They shared a passionate kiss and then headed into the kitchen to gather glasses for their drinks. Tony had ordered pizza to arrive at 7:45 to give everyone a chance to talk to Ziva for a while before eating.

There was a knock at the door, Tony and Ziva shared a nervous look before Tony headed to answer the door. Ziva stayed in the kitchen wanting to wait until everyone had arrived before she made her appearance.

By 7:15 everyone had arrived; Gibbs, Abby, McGee, Ducky, Jimmy and even Breena. Vance wasn't able to make it as he had scheduled a movie night with his kids.

"I'm just going to go and get some glasses and we can get this party started," Tony said with a smile.

Tony entered the kitchen and grabbed 4 glasses, Ziva smiled and grabbed the other four. Together they entered the living room and everyone either gasped or cheered when they saw Ziva.

The couple put the glasses on the coffee table and everyone took turns to hug Ziva and offer words of welcome.

"It's good to have you back Ziver," Gibbs said with a genuine smile.

"When did you get here? Why didn't you come say hi?" Abby asked.

Ziva looked at Tony with an annoyed look, she wasn't going down for this.

Tony nervously laughed before he responded, "Ziva came back with me when I came back, I had her stay here so that we could properly celebrate at the end of the week and not have work getting in the way."

"You just wanted to have Ziva to yourself for a few days," McGee teased.

Tony shrugged, "yeah there's that too."

Ziva smiled, "as much as being alone with you has been great Tony I'm glad that everyone knows I'm back. Being cooped up alone during the day has been boring. Tony's movie collection hasn't been much help."

Everyone except Tony laughed.

"So want to give us any more details about your time away?" Abby asked Ziva.

Ziva explained to everyone how she went to every place she had been to growing up and how she had been trying to reconnect and find herself.

"When Tony found me he convinced me that I didn't need to find myself alone. After he was about to board the plane I realised he was right and well here I am," Ziva finished explaining.

"Also Gibbs technically we're not breaking rule 12, we're not co-workers," Tony quickly defended.

"Rule 12 never applied to you two," Gibbs stated.

Everyone looked at him in shock, as far as they were all concerned that was the one rule with no exceptions.

"After about 8 years of working together all the time I wasn't exactly surprised when you started to act differently around each other after the bombing. You were alone for a long time in that lift. I trusted your judgement that you wouldn't do anything stupid," Gibbs explained.

There was a knock on the door, "saved by the pizza," Tony joked.

Ziva and Breena went to get plates from the kitchen.

"Ziva if you ever want to talk or if you want to try something new just let me know," Breena said.

Ziva smiled, "thanks Breena I might take you up on that offer."

"It's good to have you back Ziva, our family hasn't been whole since you left," Ducky said affectionately.

Ziva put the plates on the table and hugged Ducky, "I missed you too Ducky."

Tony put the three pizzas on the table and grabbed a bottle of champagne from the kitchen pouring the liquid into each of the eight glasses. Everyone grabbed a glass and stood around the coffee table smiling.

"I would like to make a toast, to Ziva and to having our family whole again," Tony said.

Everyone raised their glasses, "cheers," and took a drink.

Gibbs took charge to distribute the pizza giving everyone three slices, one from each pizza, on their plates.

"I want you all to know that I don't regret leaving but this is home. All of you are my home. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. It wouldn't have mattered if Tony came for me or not I would have eventually ended up back here either way. If it wasn't for Tony though I probably wouldn't have been so quick to realise that this is where I belong. I promise you all that I won't leave like that again. If I lose my way all I need to do is be surrounded by all of you to know that I'm home and I'm not lost at all," Ziva said.

Everyone responded with smiles and looks of understanding, their mouths too full of food to say anything in response.

Ziva didn't mind in the slightest. She knew exactly where she belonged, right here surrounded by her loved ones.

Ziva was home.


End file.
